WE MEAN BUSINESS

Park Life – Boycey explains that consistent results will show that last season was not just a one off

It is Emmerson Boyce’s seventh season at Wigan Athletic and he has seen many players come in and out of the door.

This season though he thinks the stability of the squad and the management of Roberto Martinez can provide the rewards for the hard work the team put in.

“We understand more now what the manager wants from us.

“We’ve got a very good squad and the styles of players are different from those that we had in the past under other managers.

“The players we’ve got now are fantastic and we all suit the way that the gaffer wants us to play which is obviously really important.

“In that respect I think we’ve got one of the strongest squads we’ve ever had.

“I’ve played with some great players like Antonio Valencia but, as a unit we have got stronger.”

The 32-year-old declared himself happy with the start to the season and said that there is a positive mentality within the squad.

“Our mentality is to think that we can push ourselves and show people that we’re not just a team that have to battle for safety at the end of the season.

“We realise that if we don’t beat the teams that are around us in the league then we are going to have a fight on our hands but, we don’t want to be doing that because after last season we have higher expectations of ourselves.

“We are looking to push towards that top ten and pushing to show people that the Club as a whole is progressing and that the end of last season wasn’t just a fluke.”

This weekend sees Fulham roll up at the DW Stadium and former player Hugo Rodallega, somebody Boyce is happy to welcome back.

“He will be welcomed back because he has done a lot for the Club what with being the record Premier League goal scorer and obviously the goal he scored against Stoke City.

“I think he’ll do really well at Fulham but on Saturday I hope he doesn’t have a good game and then after that it would be nice to see him doing well.

“I think he’ll get a very warm welcome from the players and fans but for 90 minutes he is the opposition and we will try our best to stop him and the rest of the Fulham team.”

Boyce added.

“Fulham is a massive game for us and we and the fans are expectant of a good result.

“We’ve got a lot of confidence still because we actually played quite well against Man United despite the result.

“Fulham is a game that we will go into thinking that we can take all three points.”